Sluice and ore concentrator.



APPLICATION TILED AUG.26,1913.

Patented Sept. 15, 1914.

2 SHBETSSHEET 1.

THE NORRIS PETERS 17., PHOTD-LITHO), WASHINUION, O C,

G. S. RICHARDSON.

SLUIGE AND ORE OONGENTRATOR.

APPLIGATIOIN FILED AUG. 26, 1913.

Patented Sept. 15,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

G/arznca 15707? ardsaq THE NORRJS PETERS CO, PHOTO-LITHO-. WASHINGTUN, D, C.

* UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE SLOCUM RICHARDSON, or Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

SLUICE AND one ECONCENTRATOR.

To all whom it may concern:

, Be it known that I, CLARENCE S, RICHARD- SON, a'citizen'of the United States, and a resident of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have madecertain new andiuseful Improvements in Sluice and'Ure Concentrators, of which the following is aspecification.

-My invention relates to ore concentrators, my 'more particular purpose being to provide a concentrator suitable for either liquid or dry concentration-that is suitable for use with water or with air currents, as desired.

More particularly stated, my invention comprehends quite a number of improve ments, the general purpose of which is to improve the efficiency of apparatus of this roller at the-bottom of the hopper. Fig. 4;

is a view partly in section and partly in fragmentary elevation reverse to the eleva tionshown in Fig. 1, disclosingthe feed screenforming a part of the hopper, and

means for agitating said screen. Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section. of [the lower end of the sluice box, showingth'e gate for the same. Fig. 6 is a perspective of one of the removable riflie pans. The trough or sluice box is shown at 7 and is supported by aid ofposts 8 arranged in rows uponopposite SlC16S thereof. A hopper is shown at9', anengine or other motor at 10 and a pump at 11,"the latter being preferably ofthe centrifugal type.

i "A platform or-pi'er' is shown at 12 and a car 13 rests upon" this platform for the purpose of removing the refuse material after the latter is passed through the machine. A water pipeis shown at 14 and in this instance is buried; in the earth 15. This water pipe communicates with aboa f Water'm i is P Ovided withhand valves 17, 18, for controlling the supply of waterfi A pipe 19 is connected with the pipe 14: and with the p'umpll. .u;

Specification of Letters Patent.

sprocket chain 38.

A fle2. ible pipe section 20 is connected w th this pump and with a distributing pipe 21, the latter being provided with a hand valve 22. A tube 23 is mounted upon the pipe 21 and extends upwardly therefrom, the upper end of this tube hooking over the top of the hopper 9. The tube 23 Patented Sept..15, 1914.

- Application'filedAugust26, i913. Seria1 N0.786,686.

is used for supplying water into the hopper as the ore is fed thereinto.

A water ,motor is shown at 23 and by aid of belting '24, is connected with a pulley 25, the latter being mounted upon a shaft 26. This shaft carries a feed roller 27 of the form indicated in cross section in Fig. 3. The shaft 26 also carries a gear wheel. 28, located upon the opposite side of the hopper 9 from the pulley 25 and having the form indicated in Fig. 4:. The gear wheel 28 serves the purpose of a sprocket wheel and is provided with a slideway 29. A slide 30 is fitted into this slideway and is connected R by a pitman 31 with a screen 32. This screen occupies the lower or discharge end of the hopper and is supported at one end by springs 33, as will be understood from Fig. 1. As the shaft 26 is rotated, the slide 30 is shifted from one endto the other of the slideway 29, the adjacent end of the screen 32 being caused to reciprocate vertically. I 1 o The other end of the screen, being spring mounted, isagitated in a manner suitable for thepurpose of distributing equally the ore particles asthey drop upon and are passed through the screen; 1 Engaging the gear wheel 28, is a sprocket chain This sprocket chain engages a sprocket'v'vheel 35, the latter being mounted upon ashaft 36. fTlllSSllaft is journaled upon hangers 37 and-carries another sprocket'wheel, the latter 'meshing with a This sprocket chain meshes with a sprocket wheel 39. i In operativerelatio-n' to the sprocket wheel 39 is a sprocket 'chain 40 which engages a sprocket wheel 41'; Hangers 42, 43', mounted rigidly upon the sluice'box, are provided for suppoi'tingfthe sprocket chain last menmedi'ately associated with the same.

,Two pendulum bars are shown at 44:, l5.-

These pendulum bars are mounted upon cranks 46-47, the latter being carried by crank shankslS, 49, which are ournaled in' the hangers 4:2, 43 and extend directlyacross u being partially "These drums are providedwith hand cranks 57 whereby theymay'be turnedso as to ralse the sluice box. Carried upon the lower ends of the pendulum bars 4445 are rake heads 50, 51, made preferably of structural metal and each carrying a number of short. rake teeth 52 as indicated more particularly in Fig. 2.

Suspenslon straps 53 arranged 1n pairs are secured to the botto'm of the sluice box 7 and extend upwardly therefrom as indis cated in Fig. 2. Each suspension strap 58 is at its top connected With-asliding frame 54, each sliding frame encircling one of the supporting posts, 8. Connected with the sliding frames 54 are chains 55, the latter wound upon drums 56.

or lower the slides 54 and :thus adjust the position of the sluice box. a l -v Connected with the pipe 21 are a number of branch pipes 58-59 of difierent lengths,

68. A sliding gate 69 may be adjusted into each branch pipe being A pitman 5' understood from Fig. 6.

valve 60. i extends from one pendulum barn44 to the pendulum bar 45, and connects these bars together so thatnthe pendulum heads 51 swing inunison. Engaging the pulley 25 ,is a belt 61 which leads to a pulley 62, the latter being mounted upon one endof a shaft 63,'this shaft being supported upon bearings 64 carried by the posts 8; a a I M'ounted upon the shaft 63 are two eccentrics 65, these eccentrics being provided with straps66' which are secured to the adjacent side of theqsluice box 7 'As the shaft '63 is turned the eccentrics cause the sluice box to sway back and forth in a direction 7 crossing its general length. 7

One end, of the sluice box 7 (see Flg. 5)

is provided with boards 67 extending entirely across it andseparated by a space different positions between the boards 67- so as to regulateithe depthof water and other material which may accumulate in the.

lower end of the sluice: box. The "bottom of. the sluice box is shown at 70 .and is adaptedto hold a number of rifile pans 71,- each having a substantially triangular form. in. cross section, as indicated in Fig. 5. The general shape of the riflle pans may be A number of cylindrical casings 72 are severally provided with perforations 73, and

are-sunken partially into the bottom 70 01 the sluice box. Located within each cylindrical casing 72 is a valve member 74 havingageneral cylindrical form and provided with a slot 7 5. The operator by turning any one of the valve members 74 relatively to" the cylindrical casing 72 associated with it can, control the discharge capacity of the two members considered collectively;-

@Therifile pans 71 aresunken into the bot-' "provided with a the upper surfacethereof, as; indicated in tom 7 so as to be substantially el s with Fig. 5. The cylindrical casings 72 are connectedwith the various 'branch pipes 5S59 Each 8, as will be. understood from Fig." 2.

The water motor 23 and the centrifugal pump 11 areof such structure that they can be used in connectlonqwlth an, aswell' as water; "WVhen thus used) the body of water 16 is discarded and air is drawn through ghepipe 14 and'discharged within the'sluice The operation of my deviceis as follows The parts being assembledand arranged as above described, and as shown in the drawings, the ore'is fed slowly into the hopper 9v and the motor 10 is started into action.

Power being communicatedto the pump 11,

the water is drawn into thepipe 14 from the body of water 16 and is forced upwardly through the flexible pipe section '20 and dis-f tributing pipe 21 to the various branch pipes 58'-59, and thence into thevalve members 74. The water thenceescapes throughthe perforations 73 and spouts in variousfine streams within the sluice box. As ore is fed into the-hopper 9, it isbrought intocontact with water discharged into the hopper through pipe 23 and drifts downwardly upon the screen 132. This screen being in motion as-above described, and the ore being fed downwardly by aid of the feed roller 27, firstlodges upon the screen and is gradually sifted through the screen into the upper end of the sluice box. Here it'is brought :into

contact with more :water; which is spouted in fine streams from the perforations -7 The ore; is thus carried downwardly over the rifiie pans 71 which accumulate the con centrates.

tervals-aretakenout in; order that the concentrates may beemptiedin-to some appros priate receptacle. Rotation ofIthe shaft 63-v causes the eccentrics 65to sway :orswing the sluice box sidewise as above described this,

movement still further facilitating the lodgment of the concentrates within theariflie pans.

The rake heads alternately-raised and lowered, and also SWHIlg -SldBWlSG bYQ.

virtue of the action of the crank46." These very useful in spreading out lumps of material which may otherwise tendto gather within the sluice box.) t e In order to adjust the general level nfthe rake heads, actuated in this manner, are

sluice box to elevate or lower either end independently of the other end thereof, the hand cranks 57 are employed as above described.

Sometimes it is desirable that a pool of water be formed in the lower end of the sluice box 7 For this purpose the gate 69 is adjusted by hand in order to prevent or restrict the escape of the water from the adjacent end of the sluicebox. By virtue of the flexibility of the pipe section 20, the

of my invention, the scope of which is commensurate with my claims.

I claim 1. In an ore concentrator, the combination of a sluice box, means for suspending said sluice box in order to enable the same to swing, a pipe for conveying water into said sluice box, said pipe having a flexible section, ore agitating mechanism carried by said sluice box, and mechanism controllable by the flow of water into said sluice box for actuating said agitating mechanism;

2. An ore concentrator comprising a pump, means for actuatingthesame, a flexible pipe section connected with said pump,

n a distributing pipe connected with ,said

flexible pipe section, a sluice box carrying said distributing pipe, means for Suspend- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,

Washington, D. G.

ing said sluice box in order to enable the latter to be swung, a motor connected with said distributing pipe and adapted to be actuated by the flow of fluid therethrough, a feed roller mounted within said hopper, and

connections from, said feed roller to said motor for enabling said motor to actuate said feed roller.

3. An ore concentrator comprising a sluicev box, means for mounting said sluice box so as to permitthe same to swing, means for feeding ore and water into said sluice box, crank shaftssupported by said sluice box and provided with crank pendulum bars suspended from saidcranks, a pitman connecting the pendulum bars, rake heads carried by said pendulum bars and located within said sluice box, and means controllable by the flow of the fluid into said sluice box for actuating said crank shafts.

4. In a concentrator of the character described, a sluice box having a slanting bottom provided'with a plurality of transverse grooves, and a plurality of rifile pans and fluid supply pipes disposed insaid grooves and alternating throughout the series thereof.

5. In a concentrator of the character described, a sluice box having a slanting bottom provided with a series of transverse alternately wedge shaped and semi-circular groovesfriflle pansremovably seated in the wedge shaped grooves, and valved fluid supply pipes disposed in the semi-circular grooves and alternating with the riflie pans throughout the series. I

CLARENCE SLOGUM RICHARDSON.

I Witnesses:

' CECIL C. RICHARDSON,

ARTHUR M. ROCKWELL.

by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 

